I can’t tell a quinella from quinoa and horses scare me a bit. But every November, I still find myself shouting at the TV or hugging strangers.

One year on Melbourne Cup day, I found myself alone at home. I was knee deep in a frustrating report that wouldn’t be finished without a fight. Race time gave me an excuse to sneak off for a desperately needed break.

My two dogs and I plonked down in front of the telly. Truthfully, I can’t tell a quinella from quinoa and horses scare me a bit. But I still found myself shouting the name of a horse I didn’t know existed an hour ago, hugging my slightly concerned dogs and getting a bit teary over the winning jockey’s victory speech.

While I calmed down with a soothing glass of champagne (which made the report seem far more achievable) I realised I’d contracted Melbourne Cup-itis yet again. November shows up so Australians throw their worries away and back a horse because of the colour of its jockey’s shirt!

Just by having a few horses run around a track a couple of times, this monumental horse race is able to:

· Drive normally sedate people to yell, wave their arms about and hug relative strangers.

· Convince people to risk their hard-earned money on one of the most unpredictable races in the world.

· Make lots of people very happy, even when they discover they spent their money on a horse that turned out to be a donkey.

What if we decided to have Melbourne Cup-itis on a few other days of the year? You don’t even need a horse. It’s just a matter of capturing that Melbourne Cup feeling, so you: